The boss just controlling the controllables
Luck.Noun. Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions.Try putting that definition to John Still.
“I don’t believe in luck,” the Town boss said at his Thursday press conference. “People can say ‘you’ve been lucky’, but to me you only get lucky when you work hard.
“The harder you work the luckier you get.”
Managers will often bemoan their sides not “getting the rub of the green” in games. Still is tad more ruthless in his view.
“If you’re beaten it won’t be down to a lack of luck, it will be probably because you haven’t been good enough,” continued the manager as he looked ahead to Saturday’s game against Hartlepool.
The Town, unbeaten in six League 2 games, travel to Victoria Park to take on a Pools side buoyed by a 2-1 win at Exeter – their first under caretaker boss Sam Collins.
So will the home side be out to impress Collins? “Of course they will,” said Still.
“To be honest I never worry about things like that. I only worry about things I can control. It comes back to controlling the controllables. I can’t control what the opposition can do, I can’t control what the referee does.”
But whether the Town ‘get lucky’ or not up in the North East, Still just hopes his side can be better on the day.
“Relying on luck is never going to get you very far, it won’t help you all the time,” continued Still.
“Put it simply, if Hartlepool are better than us they have better chance of winning. If we are better than them then we have a better chance of winning. I don’t think luck will play a part.
“They have 11 players. If one of them has a special day then we have to make sure we are able to deal with that.
“People do have special days, and one of our players might have a special day.
“I’ve said before that I don’t worry too much about the other team. They will have strengths and it’s up to us to deal with that.”
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